The incoming speaker of the state Assembly said today that he expects that a committee's subpoena power over the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will be re-authorized during the next legislative session.

"Given the new information that has come to light today, I plan a thorough review of the documents received from the Port Authority officials," Speaker-elect Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson), said in a statement. "Upon becoming Assembly Speaker next week, I plan to seek counsel and guidance from legal experts and how best to proceed. But I fully expect this investigation to continue into the next legislative session."

Documents obtained by The Star-Ledger this morning included an Aug. 13 email from Gov. Chris Christie's deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, telling a Port Authority official, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

The email was sent nearly a month before the Sept. 9-13 closures and indicate that at least one member of Christie's office had knowledge of the plan, and that its result would be a traffic nightmare for Fort Lee.

Lawmakers, mainly Democrats, have expressed suspicion the closures were political payback for the Fort Lee mayor's failure to endorse Christie for re-election, an assertion the governor has dismissed.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), who chairs the Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee, has been leading an investigation into the closures, using subpoena power his committee was granted last year in the wake of a controversial Port Authority toll hike.

The email and other documents that surfaced today were among those subpoenaed by Wisniewski from seven current and former Port Authority officials. But the committee's subpoena power expires Jan. 13, the last day of the current legislative session. Before today, Prieto had not given any public indication whether he would post the required Assembly resolution reauthorizing the committee's subpoena power.

Even before today's developments, a number of leading Democrats had expressed support for renewing the committee's power, including the current speaker, Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-Essex), the conference leader, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen), and Wisniewski, a deputy speaker.

The email from Kelly was sent to David Wildstein, the former Port Authority official who gave the order to the bridge manager to close off the toll lanes to local traffic. Wildstein's response to the 7:34 a.m. email, sent on Kelly's personal Yahoo account to Wildstein's Gmail accountm, was "Got it."

Wildstein was also subpoenaed to testify at a hearing of Wisniewski's committee scheduled for noon Thursday. The testimony subpoena has been challenged by Wildstein's laywer as overstepping the committee's authority, which he says only extends to Port Authority finances. The lawyer, Alan Zegas, said a hearing was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Superior Court in Trenton to decide the issue.